Kitano Ijinkan

北野異人館街

Western-style mansions built by foreign merchants on the hillside after the port opened. The Weathervane Rooster House and the Moegi (Yellow-Green) House, with hillside cafés and harbor views, capture Kobe’s exotic charm.

Kitano Ijinkan Street lies on the hillside between Shin-Kobe Station and Sannomiya, in the Kitano-cho and Yamamoto-dori areas. After Kobe opened its port in 1868, foreign consuls and traders built dozens of Western-style residences here, known as “ijinkan” (foreigners’ houses). About 20 of them are preserved and open to the public. Together with the Yamamoto-dori area, they form a National Important Traditional Building Preservation District. Representative buildings include the Weathervane Rooster House (built in 1909 as the residence of the German trader Thomas; its red-brick walls and rooster weathervane are the symbol of Kitano. It is an Important Cultural Property and reopened after seismic retrofitting, with admission of 500 yen). The Moegi House (built in 1903 as the residence of the US consul, a pale green wooden building, an Important Cultural Property, 400 yen). Kitano-cho Square in front of these two houses is the liveliest photo spot. Other houses include the British House, the Rhine House, the Holland House (House of Fragrance) on Holland Slope, the Vienna Austria House, the Danish House, the Uroko House (Fish Scale House, one of the earliest ijinkan, which includes an art museum) and the Yamate No. 8 House, where the Saturn chair is said to make your wishes come true if you touch it. You can buy a combined ticket for multiple houses (about 1,400 to 3,000 yen), or visit just two or three. The Ijinkan street itself is lined along Kitano-zaka with a Starbucks Kitano Ijinkan store (housed in a 1907 Western-style building), cafés, Kobe beef restaurants and French restaurants. There is also Kitano Tenmangu Shrine, where climbing the stone steps offers views of the Weathervane Rooster House and the harbor, as well as a mosque and a synagogue that reflect the history of immigration. Getting there: it is about a 15-minute uphill walk from Sannomiya Station, or take the City Loop bus to the “Kitano Ijinkan” stop. From Shin-Kobe Station it is about a 10-minute walk. Allow 1.5 to 2.5 hours for the visit. Notes: most houses close at 17:00 to 18:00, and weekends are crowded. There is a lot of uphill and downhill walking, so wear comfortable shoes. Most houses allow photography indoors, but tripods are prohibited. Some houses are closed on Tuesdays in winter.

Kitano Ijinkan

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